


Maybe They Could Find It Here

by broken_hearted_bard



Series: Prompt Writing [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death Mentioned, F/F, F/M, Gen, No Comics Storylines Here, Prompt Fic, character death mentioned but not at all seen, post-Season Seven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:47:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28176411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broken_hearted_bard/pseuds/broken_hearted_bard
Summary: Prompt: "It’s okay. I couldn’t sleep anyway."Faith/Oz, post season seven.A complete ficlet.
Relationships: Faith Lehane/Daniel "Oz" Osbourne
Series: Prompt Writing [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064156
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	Maybe They Could Find It Here

**Author's Note:**

  * For [deandratb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deandratb/gifts).



Oz wanders down into the basement-level kitchen in search of a snack or a cup of tea or even just the sound of the lightly buzzing appliances -- anything to settle his mind so that he could, at some point please, fall asleep.

He is older now, wiser (he likes to think), and better able to cope, but as the years progress, it gets harder and harder to sleep at night. The wolf in him wants to run and play and stalk and hunt and then fall asleep, happy and sated, cuddled up with its mate. He lets the wolf out when it's time to fight, to battle, but for the most part he keeps all of that on lock-down as often as he can.

The kitchen is huge, as half of it serves as the mess-hall for the unit, but at just past-midnight, there's no one there but him and the only light is coming from the various appliances and a tiny night-light plugged in along the wall. He opens a cupboard and removes his preferred brand of tea. He grabs a mug from the mug-tree on the counter and presses the button on the electric kettle so that it'll begin heating up. From the fridge, with its blast of light and cold, he grabs a bottle of non-dairy vanilla bean creamer.

Oz settles at the kitchen counter to await the boiling water.

When she walks in a few minutes later, he isn't surprised. She's always up late, these days, and they run into each other more than not, late at night. He feels like they've been dancing around each other for the last few years -- neither quite ready to make the jump, and both hesitant to start any drama.

They are alike, in more ways than most of their friends would admit to -- but they do. They regularly talk and share these nighttime wanderings. Each of them sees, in the other, something of themselves. It is both comfort and excitement. They don't talk about the energy between them, the sparks that fly, but they are each wholly aware of the situation.

Neither one of them have been with anyone else in the last three years, an unspoken agreement, even though they have yet to cross the line.

"Couldn't sleep?" Oz asks.

Faith looks at him, but doesn't say anything as she moves to the fridge for a snack and a caffeine-free coke.

"It's okay, Faith," Oz says quietly.

She shakes her head. "I didn't even try. I know when I'm too awake."

Oz nods.

When the kettle goes off, she lifts it from its base and pours the hot water over the tea-bag in his cup before setting it back down. 

She slides onto the stool next to him and puts the plate of cheese and crackers in between them, offering him some too.

He pulls his mug closer to him, letting the cup warm his chilled fingers. "What is it tonight, then?" he asks.

"Some aches, some pains. One nightmare. It's been worse, before, but tonight...I dunno. Just can't settle."

"It's the anniversary, Faith," Oz explains gently.

Faith hangs her head, but her expression can't be hidden behind a long curtain of dense-brown hair anymore, so he sees the pain cross her face before it's carefully set aside.

"I can't sleep anyway, you know. So you might as well talk to me."

She looks back up and cards a hand through her very short, black hair. The colour was from an op earlier this month, but the cut was all Faith -- short and choppy with jagged bangs and completely badass. She'd wanted a change, he knew.

"I don't miss him, not the way I used to. That took a while. But I don't," she insists. "But it was just....it was so unnecessary."

"He didn't follow the rules," Oz said simply. 

"It wasn't his fault, though."

"No. We all take chances in this line of work, we can't help it. It's the way it is."

"I don't think about him that often, anymore. But when I do....it's like being gut-punched," she says quietly.

Oz nods. "That is perfectly normal."

"I've never, in my life, wanted to be normal," Faith replies.

"That's good, because you aren't."

She gives him a look that's half-disbelief and half-amusement. "Oh, no?" She holds up the coke as proof.

"Liking caffeine free coke isn't normal, Faith, but....we were talking about Robin."

"He didn't have to die. And it's messed up that he did."

"Agreed," Oz says.

"I don't pine for him or anything, jeeze," Faith says -- albeit defensively.

"I know, Faith. You don't need to tell me that. We're good, I promise. It's okay, especially tonight, to miss him and to wonder."

Faith nods. "I couldn't sleep. It...it was weighing on me."

It's Oz's turn to nod.

"Do you ever wonder....people like us....if we're really meant for anyone?"

Oz smiles. "I don't have to wonder."

"Because of what you've had?" she asks.

"Past relationships, you mean?"

"Yeah. I mean. You've had great, epic love in your life. You know?"

"I know."

"So...is that why you don't wonder?"

"No," he says shortly before he turns to face her.

"Why, then?"

Oz brushes his fingertips down her cheek. "Because of this. Of what we will have."

Her eyes widen, but there's no trace of innocence in them -- she knows, as she has known for the last few years -- what they mean to each other. "Yes," she breathes.

He closes the distance. A first, passionate kiss. And although they each pull back after, he knows, as she knows, that it is the start of something. Something whole and completely its own; something that will excite and amuse even when it turns in a million different directions. They know that what's between them will grow with them as they grow and that it isn't something to pull back from now that it's begun. This will be something wonderful.

**********************

/END/


End file.
